Volunteer fire department outlines ISO rating issues, training-field plan

The Seabrook Volunteer Fire Department presented its 2024 activity report to the City Council and explained how a dedicated local training field ties to the city's Insurance Services Office (ISO) public-protection classification.

Mason, identified as a presenter for the Seabrook Volunteer Fire Department, told the council the department ran 1,047 calls in Seabrook in 2024 and a total of about 1,229 calls for service when mutual-aid and adjacent jurisdictions are included. He said roughly 66% of calls were first-responder medical calls; the department documented 26 occasions that a volunteer medic rode to the hospital and 16 times the department provided ambulance drivers to allow paramedics to remain with patients.

Mason explained the ISO rating system and said Seabrook is currently an ISO Class 3. "We're an ISO class 3 if you didn't know that by the way," he told the council. He described ISO as a state-recognized, point-based evaluation (100-point scale) that reviews three main categories: emergency communications (10 points), water supply (40 points), and the fire department's performance and resources (50 points). Mason said Seabrook scored about 8.3 of 10 in emergency communications in the last survey and that the department earned limited credit in the training category because the city does not yet have a dedicated training field.

Mason told the council a parcel of land was donated decades ago by a chemical company described in the presentation as "American Accrual" with a deed restricting the use to fire service; those earlier bonds paid for infrastructure improvements including water looping to address past water-supply weaknesses. The department is proposing a three-story training facility to gain maximum ISO credit, which could influence insurance ratings over time. Mason and councilmembers discussed the large capital cost associated with water-system upgrades and the relative cost-effectiveness of acquiring ISO points through training facilities versus water-system improvements.

Why it matters: ISO ratings can affect how insurers price fire-risk coverage, and the department said small improvements in ISO points can, in theory, produce measurable savings on fire insurance premiums across the community. Councilmembers asked whether residents actually see premium reductions and how the city's debt and bond decisions intersect with capital needs tied to ISO improvements.

Ending: The presentation provided statistics for 2024 and contextualized why certain capital improvements, including a training field, remain part of the city's long-term planning.